Box score

NEW HAVEN, CT--Yale exploded for 45 second-half points and pulled away from visiting NJIT, extending a nine-point halftime lead to a 79-48 final score in men's basketball Saturday afternoon.

The Bulldogs, who led at the half, 34-25, largely on the strength of a 15-2 advantage at the foul line in the opening 20 minutes, poured 24 points through the nets in less than eight minutes to open the final period and led by more than 25 points over the game's last 12 minutes.

Yale also dominated the second half defensively, limiting NJIT to 5-for-27 shooting from the field in the second half after the Highlanders had connected on half of their 20 shots in the first half.

NJIT freshman Chris Flores bounced back from a subpar game Tuesday night at Boston College by taking game scoring honors at Yale, with 18 points. Junior Jheryl Wilson added 16 points for the Highlanders, but only three other NJIT players made it onto the scoresheet.

Isaiah Wilkerson, who played point guard most of the game, was the top rebounder for NJIT, collecting 6 rebounds, all on the defensive end.

Yale, which has won its last two games after breaking a five-game slide, had four double-figure scorers, paced by senior Alex Zampier, who finished with 15 points. Junior Porter Braswell followed with 14 points, with four three-point baskets in five tries, while forward Michael Sands picked up 11 points and Reggie Willhite came off the bench for 10 points.

In all, Yale coach James Jones employed 14 players, 11 of whom got into the scoring column in his team's final game before the start of Ivy League play next weekend.

What would be the high point of the game for the Highlanders came early, as they grabbed an 8-2 lead in the first three minutes after Wilson and Flores connected on back-to-back three baskets.

However, the first half remained close and Yale did not get a lead as large as NJIT's early six-point cushion until Braswell made two free throws for a 28-21 Bulldog lead with 4:55 remaining in the first half.

Braswell's two free throws were part of 15-for-16 shooting from the foul line in the half by Yale. Five of NJIT's first six fouls in the half were whistled as being in the act of shooting, resulting in two Bulldog free throws each time. By contrast, even though Yale was pressuring the NJIT guards before they crossed midcourt, no hand-check calls were forthcoming and NJIT was awarded just three free throws in the opening half.

Both teams committed a high number of turnovers in the first half--16 by NJIT and 11 by Yale--but the points-off-turnovers were even at 15 apiece. Aside from the afforementioned disparity at the foul line, neither team had a significant edge in any of the other statistics, as Zampier had 12 points for Yale and Wilson had 10 to lead NJIT.

The Highlanders actually got on the board first to open the second half, as Flores hit a three-pointer on the opening NJIT possession. Yale's Austin Morgan, who had gone without a field goal in the first half, answered with a three-pointer and Flores came back for another trey to pull NJIT within six points of the lead for the final time at 37-31 with 18:09 remaining.

Braswell, who came into the game having shot 5-for-32 (.156) on three-pointers for the entire season, then hit three three-pointers in a span of 2:23, sparking a decisive run that lasted more than eight minutes and eventually went to 25-2 and pushed the score from 37-31 at 18:09 to 62-33 at 10:50.

In all, Yale, which had made one three-point basket in the first half and was shooting below 30 percent from distance on the season coming in, shot 8-for-15 from behind the arc in its big second half against NJIT.

The Highlanders, who had been on an upswing as 2009 became 2010, have suffered two setbacks in the last week, losing decisively at Boston College on Tuesday and then seeing a close game go sour in the second half at Yale. That came on the heels of the program's first road win since February 2007, when the Highlanders topped Wagner at Wagner on December 28 and followed that with another win over NYU-Poly on December 30 and then a hard-fought 86-79 road loss at Lehigh on January 2.

The is the backdrop for the start of play in the inaugural basketball season for the Great West Conference, The Highlanders, who have played seven of their last eight on the road since December 9, will open Great West play far from home with a trip to Texas for games at Texas-Pan American on Thursday and at Houston Baptist on Saturday.